Part of the problem would be that there were very few actors in the UK at the time with a Middle Eastern background. Equity, the actor's union, was also very strict and difficult to get into.
Often Middle Eastern/North African characters were played by actors like George Pastell or Paul Stassino, both from Cyprus or Marne Maitland who was Anglo-Indian - basically pretty much anyone who didn't look typically British.
The more "Egyptian" looking actors in this film have backgrounds like Spanish and Greek and even the boy you mention (who would have been easier to cast as Equity would have made an age exception) has a name which suggests an Indian background.
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